Rear Brakes -- pads replacement: e32, e34

3-23-2003

Note: this is a much condensed version, refer to the "Front Brakes"
section for any missing details.

Unlike the front brakes for which the rotor simply swings out
of the way once the caliper pins & caliper is removed, the
caliper support bracket must be removed on the rear brakes since
the rotor must slide straight out due to the internal
conventional drum brake arrangement for the parking brake.

This time the small socket screw that holds the rotor to the
hub didn't want to come off so I ground a slit in it with a cut-off
wheel with my die grinder. Once again, my trusty old manual
hammer type impact wrench saved my bacon.

I must be a glutton for punishment, re-using the same screw
only this time with some anti-seize on the threads. Where are you
going to find a new one on a Sunday afternoon?

I did this job on the cheap so machined the wear ridges off of
the existing rotors vs. buying new rotors. I mic'd them &
they had plenty of thickness, something like 11.1 mm and the
minimum thickness is 10.4 mm. They both indexed within +/- .0002"
on the lathe but I've not had good success re-machining entire
rotor surfaces without getting a pulsating brake pedal, so just
removed the inner & outer wear ridges & left the main
wear surface as-is. I jitterbugged the faces after machining off
the wear ridges.

There are many choices for pads, I kept with the same
composition as I used on the fronts a while back, Raybestos PG
Plus, semi-metalic, part number PGD396M. They provide excellent
street performance and absolutely zero noise, and dust way less
than the stock Jurid or Pagid pads.

Price: about $39.95 at Checker Auto Parts, with a "limited
lifetime warrantee" whatever that is.

Another alternative that Bill R. recommends to his customers
is the Raybestos "Quiet Stop" ceramic pads at $55.95
per axle. I meant to get those when I did the fronts but they
weren't in stock at the time and I've been very happy with the
semi-metalic PG Plus.

Here's a shot of the conventional style handbrake drum style
setup:

They probably will outlast the car before they wear down
enough to need replacing so I left them alone.

Here's the thinnest of all the pads which was on the left
inner, the side without a wear sensor. It was just starting to
make metal to metal contact with the worn ridge on the outer brim.
There was maybe 1/32" of pad material left on it, sometimes
you get lucky.

In case you want to "extinguish" the annoying "Brake
Linings -- See Owners Manual" check control message, if you
snip the wires off the wear sensor and strip the ends and solder
or twist them together with a wire nut, the message will go out
until you have time to replace the pads. That way you can still
access all your favorite OBC display settings with the turn
signal stalk and not be chimed every 10 or 15 minutes or so
telling you what you already know and locking out the displays.